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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1. F. E. SIOKELS.

STEAM STEERING APPARATUS. No. 273,617. Patented Mar. 6,1883.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

P. E. SIOKELS.

STEAM STEERING APPARATUS.

No. 273,617. Patented Mar.6,1883.

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F. E. SIGKELS.

STEAM STEERING APPARATUS.

No. 273,617. Patented Mar.6,1883.

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' W 6. amt i1 '9 @am-J v/ FREDERICK E. SIOKELS, OF NEW YORK, J.

STEAM STEERING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 273,617, dated March 6,1883.

Application filed September 27. 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK E. SroK- ELS, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at New York city, in the county and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam SteeringApparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvement in machines for steering vessels bysteam and the objects of my improvements are, first, to cause thesteam-engine operatingsaid machine to work with less of a jerking motionthan heretofore while holding the vessel on her course; and, second, togive for this purpose a greater resistance to be overcome by said enginewhile the rudder is near the midship position, and at the same timeincrease the relative power of the steam-engine upon the rudder bymaking the central portion of the drum (corresponding with the midshipposition of the rudder) much larger than heretofore found in steamsteering-machines, and causing the steering-ropes to pass over thespiral, rapidly diminishing in size toward both ends of the drum. Iattain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 is a top view or plan of a steamsteering-machine provided with my improvement. Fig. 2 is a side viewofthe same. Fig. 8 is a side view of the lever and attachments used tocontrol the valve-motion of the engine in one of the forms of what istermed the sensitive or differential motion. vertical section of thesame. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing lines made to represent the pressureupon the piston to overcome the resistance of the rudder, and also theinertia and friction to be overcome in using a spiral and plain drum.Fig. 6 is a transverse vertical section of my improvement upon the deckof a vessel with the steering-ropes leading vertically from the spiraldrum. Fig. 7 is a top view ot'my improvement upon a vessels deck, withthe steering-ropes leading to the sides of the vessel and tiller.

Heretofore cylindrical drums have been used, in connection with steamsteering-engines, to

Fig. 4 is a wind or unwind the steering ropes or chains of vessels.Spiral cones similar to mine have been used in connection with a handsteeringwheel; but the disadvantage of their application to the rudderin this case is that instead of diminishing the labor of the steersmanin keeping the vessel upon her course it increases the said labor, asthe blow of thesea-waves, acting upon the increased leverage of thespiral, is transmitted to the steersman when the rudder is near themidship position, and it is in that position most of the time when thevessel is running on her course. Therefore the application of the spiraland steering-wheel practically increases the fatigue of the steersman inholding the rudder; but when a steamengine is applied to a spiral, andropes arranged thereon as hereinafter stated, the engine receives theincreased shock of the blow of the sea upon the rudder transmitted bythe spiral; and,furthermore,thelaborot'the steersman is practicallydiminished, (as compared with a plain drum,) as it is not required tomove the valve-motion of the engine so far as he would have to do with aplain drum. Steam steering machines have also been 7 proposed with drumshavingspiral grooves of such width as to allow the leading andpaying-out steeringropes to lie and pass beyond each other in the samegroove, so that the point at which one portion of the rope enters thedrum is the same at which another portion leaves the drum. By thatconstruction the leading-rope is taken up exactly as fast as the otheris paid out, as on a cylindrical drum, and a telescopic tiller or itsequivalent, 8 is required to avoid the large amount of slack rope thusobtained. By my arrangement the spiral grooves do not require to be wideenough for one part of the steering-ropes to pass the other, as saidropes leave the cone- 9o drum at different points on its circumference,always leaving an uncovered portion thereon, and as the surface of thespiral drum in contact with the ropes is constantly changing it sizewhile steering, the leading or steering end is taken up faster than theother pays out, (on either side of the midship position of the rudder.)

In the drawings, A represents the crankshaft, upon which the spiral drumB is mounted. It is supported in bearings 0, and this shaft is connectedwith the hub B of the spiral drum by means of a key D, the steeringwheelB being only for use in case of accident to the engine, in which casethis key D is removed. The crank F is mounted loosely upon thecrank-shaft to turn round in the same direction, and with the samenumber of revolutions, and is a well-known mode of working the valves insteam steering.

In Figs. 3 and 4 the crank-shaft A has an arm, A, carrying a pin, a,adjoining its extremity, and upon said pin a is pivoted one of theoperating-levers F, in the form of a crank,

having a pin,f, at or about the middle of itsv length,upon which ismounted one end of each connecting-rod G, operating the slide-valves ofthe engines, and thus producing one form of whathas been termed asensitive or differential valve-motion. Any other form of valve motioncan be used with my improvement, whether it is operated directly by asingle handle and crank, as here shown, or by a more complicatedarrangement in which an ordinary steering-wheel is used to operate thevalve or valves and, also, whether the valves thus operated are the mainadmission-valves to the engine or are supplementary valve or valvesreversing the steam upon the main admissionvalve, as there are variousforms of valves or valve-gear used in connection with steamsteering-engines.

I have shown the engine-shaft connected directly to the spiral drumwithout any intermediate connection but the spiral drum may be put upona separate shaft and operated through intermediate connections with theengine-shaft--such as a worm-wheel gearing or belting and theconnectionbetween the spiral cone and the rudder may be made by means of the wellknown devices used with tiller ropes or chains. The effect of the spiraldrum, in combination with the steam steering-engine, will be to steadythe action of this engine, notwithstanding the various forms ofvalve-gear and automatic connections that may be used. Themode ofdisconnecting the steam steeringenginefrom the steering apparatusis bymeans I of the key D; but any other mode of disconnecting the parts-as aclutch, for examplemay be used so that the steering-wheel can be workedby hand and the engine can remain stationary. V

The diagram, Fig. 5, is made to graphically illustrate the difference ofpressure in the steam-cylinder when using the spiral drum,

with the tiller-ropes arranged as shown and described, as compared withthe straight drum, and in connection with the rudder of the vessel, saidrudder K being in full lines in the midship position and in dottedlinesK when hard over to port and starboard. The base-line of thepressure-diagram is shown at m. Thedisstantially straight line.

tance l I will represent the. pressure in the steam-cylinder when therudder is hard over in using this spiral drum. The distance I? willrepres'entthepressurein the cylinder when the rudder is hard over inusing the straight drum. I

In keeping a vessel upon her course in ordinary weather the rudder isshiftedfrom the midship position only a short distance, and the line a ashows the pressure of the steam upon the cylinderto overcome theresistance due to inertia and the friction of the parts when using thespiral drum; and the line n1) shows the pressure of steam upon thecylinder to overcome the resistance due to the inertia and the frictionof the parts when using the plain drum. I have found in practice thatthe increased resistance due to the use of this spiral drum in keeping avessel upon her course acts to steady the motion of the engine and avoidthe objectionable jerking action produced in using a straight cylinder,and this is specially important when it is considered that-during nearlythe whole time that the steering-en gines are in operation they aresimply used to keep the vessel upon her course. The diagram-line a Z isobtained by multiplying .the length of the sine of the angle made by therudder with the fore-and-aft center-line by the distance from the centerof the spiral drum to its acting periphery for each position of therudder. The line at Z is obtained in the same manner; but the distancefrom the center of the plain drum to its periphery remaining the samefor each position of the rudder, the line a I may be represented by asub- The lines it n and up show that the resistance, due to the inertiaand friction, to be overcome by the steam steering apparatus and spiraldrum is about three times as much asitis in using a plain drum, andhence the jerking of the engine is greatly reduced.

By my arrangement of the ropes upon a drum provided with narrow spiralgrooves the length and weight of said drum is, greatly reduced, (whencompared with a cone-drum having grooves to receive two ropes together,)as well as the abrasion of said ropes against each other in entering andleaving the grooves at the same point, while by my construction theleading-rope enters the grooves at one point and the paying-out ropeleaves it at another point. Chafing of the ropes is entirely avoided, aswell as the liability of the engine to cause jerks on account of slackrope.

Having now fully described my invention and its operation, I claim- 1.The combination of one or more steam cylinders and pistons with acrank-shaft connected therewith, and one or more spiral drums havinggrooves constructed to receive a single tiller-rope therein, whereby theengine receives the shocks from the rudder and returns said rudder toits normal position, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination of a drum having spiral thereby alter the relativetaking up and paygrooves constructed to receive a single tillering offof the two tiller-ropes leading to the 10 rope therein withasteam-cylinder, its piston, rudder, substantially as and for thepurpose and connecting mechanism, substantially as described.

5 described, whereby the said spirally-grooved FREDERICK E. SIGKELS.

drum shall receive one portion of the till- Witnesses: er-rope withinone of its grooves and pay E. E. MASSON,

off from another portion of the groove, and W. B. MASSON.

